Saturday, April 20, 2013

SATURDAY SACRIFICE: Nothing You Can Give and Don’t Forget God

This past week, I was talking to a close friend about the Holy
Ghost. The conversation was really great! He expressed that he knew about the
Holy Ghost and how he wanted it.

However, he added that he didn’t know whether he could do it.

This is the first time I ever heard someone say that, I was a little
shocked a bit. For the reason that my close friend was talking about receiving
the Holy Ghost, and speaking in tongues as if it were a skill you acquire through
practice.

I immediately assured him that it is not us; it is God’s Spirit
moving in us. There’s nothing we can give or do to receive the Holy Spirit. All
we can do is repent, be baptized, believe and receive. God will do the rest.

VERSE: “Repent and be baptized, every one of
you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ~Acts 2:38

Like, Simon in Acts 8:1-25, my friend thought that it was in his
own power that he could receive the Holy Ghost. It says “when
Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he
offered them money19and
said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may
receive the Holy Spirit.” ~Acts 8:18-19

Then Peter answered him and said,

“May your
money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with
money!”~Acts 8:20

God’s gift is free to us. It’s priceless.

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When I have brought them into the land flowing
with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors, and when
they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them,
rejecting me and breaking my covenant.~Deutoronomy 31:20

In Deutoronomy God knew the Israelites once again
will forget all the battles he brought them out of, and all the blessings he
provided. So, he told Moses to write down a Song that he will give to remind
the Israelites of who the true God is.

One
part of the Song says, 10In a desert land he found him,in a barren
and howling waste.He shielded him and cared for him;he guarded
him as the apple of his eye,11like an
eagle that stirs up its nestand hovers over its young that
spreads its wings to catch themand carries them aloft.

èWe are God’s
children; we are the apple of his eye. He provides, leads, and guards us every day
and in every aspect of our lives.

12The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him.13He made him
ride on the heights of the landand fed him
with the fruit of the fields.He nourished him with honey from
the rock,and with oil
from the flinty crag,14with curds and milk from herd
and flockand with fattened lambs and goats ,with choice rams of Bashanand the finest kernels of wheat.You
drank the foaming blood of the grape.15Jeshurun[c] grew fat and kicked; filled with food, they became heavy and sleek.

èEverything
we have God provided because he is with us. He gave us a way to go to school,
to get that car, to receive that A on the test. He led us to meet the right people
so that we would have God’s favor on the job or in school.

They
abandoned the God who made themand rejected the Rock their
Savior.16They made him jealous with their foreign godsand angered
him with their detestable idols.17They
sacrificed to false gods, which are not God— gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your ancestors did not fear.18You deserted the Rock, who
fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

èA few weeks
ago Chris talked about things we put before God. It says in the bible somewhere
(can’t recall right now) anything put above God is an idol. Don’t forget who
the true God is. Don’t forget who created you, and what you were created for.
In everything you do, do it for God.